Santa, Thanksgiving, football and Lithuania . . .

I went to the local CVS to get a couple of passport photos made today. Not for passports but for an international driver's license. As it so happened, Santa Claus was visiting the drug store today and having his photo made with the young folk. The clerk in the photo department offered to allow me to sit in Santa's lap for my photo, which I thought would actually be quite funny, although it would just be more fodder for gossip in a small town, another good reason to do it. Then I thought of the last time I drove across the border from Latvia into Lithuania late at night. I am sure those border agents were nice people at home, but, they really didn't have much of a sense of humor standing out in the cold in the middle of the night. I felt like Humphrey Bogart trying to get across the border in a black and white movie, with Lauren Bacall tucked away under my trench coat in the back seat. Okay, that's a different fantasy. But I don't think the border guys would think it was so funny. Especially if there was no Lauren Bacall. Lyn and Deb will be along, but I don't think they will hide under a trenchcoat.

Anyway, I have scored a trip to that hottest of Thanksgiving destinations, Riga, Latvia, and then Birzai, Lithuania. Actually it won't be hot at all. It is snowing today. And it looks like it will remain rather chilly throughout the week.

I'm hoping to find a sports bar to watch the big Alabama Auburn clash. They are eight hours ahead of Tuscaloosa time, so kickoff will be around 10:30 p.m. I bet there are some crazy Baltic parties planned for this one. But, I may be too tired to party, so perhaps I will just try to find it onlline, if I can find a line.

So Roll Tide in advance, just in case I can't blog the trip. And Happy Thanksgiving. For all you friends and family I have shared this Thanksgiving and football holiday with in past years, I will miss you all. But check the blog, and send me an email or a blog comment to let me know how things are going.